Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1887-07-20
Yoar vines Relations.

To be on friendly terms with ones
Wife's relatives, says q writer in the
Chicago Herald. should be the modest
aim Of every married man. I would
extend this friendly sentiment even to
mothers-in-law, than whom no class OF
human beings, male or female, has been
more or less unjustly maligned.
speak not of the puny darts Of the hui
morous Photographer, for he is to be for
given much in that he suffers much, but
OF that unwholesome sentiment pcrvad-
ing all classes which has invested the
mother-in-law with the form and sem
blance of.a social dragon, to be hated,
despised, combated, driven ont, but
never loved. There is a great deal to
be said on her side. A mother, look
you, rears her daughter with what ex-
penditure Of care, money, heartburn
ing, anxiety she can. She sees the
young thing ripen into the fullness of
beauty, and is no mother ut all If, in
her eyes at least, the beauty is not more
beautiful than any other in the world.
Thus, Dolly's complexion may not be
good, but then she was sick so long,
and, besides, look ut those beautiful
eyes and that shape. Were there ever
such shape and eyes? And Polly.
She has q hump, to be sure, halts in
her gait, and her eyes must be owned
to be watery; but que uotles rous?
Did she not ruin her dear eyes in the
pursuit of learning and the embel-
lishment OF that brilliant mind? Who
so bright as my Polly? As for Molly,
who, it is owned, has neither shape,
eyes, nor mind--do not the roses bloom
in her cheeks? Her complexion--is it
not the pink Of beauty? So, if there
be q fourth sister, and she is blind,
hating, pimply, crooked, and q fool, is
her mother, forsooth, of all mothers on
earth, to point ont these defects? No,
indeed, mothers are not SO constituted.
Very well, then; Molly or Polly
grows to more or less graceful maturity,
her mothers darling and her fathers
pride, when 10! there crosses her path
q shock-headed youth, or a smooth
headed youth; a tall youth or a short,
o fat, or q thin and-v'la! Polly or
Molly is Mt his feet (figuratively, OF
course.) Thereafter, madam, these
young ladies, your daughters, are no
longer yours, but the bounden slaves of
that young fellow there, who may live
to be hanged for all you know. You
wish he might, don't you, as you reflect
that your obedient daughter, whom you
love and cherish, whom You nursed
through the fever, whose thoughts were
your thoughts and whose heart was
yours till that gawly Apollo appeared
upon the scene, and with a nod OF his
head conjured your child away. All
the loyalty and obedience of years gone
for q pair Of thin shanks and a promi-
nent nose, or some other valuable con-
sideration. BY heaven! if ever a
daughter of mine grows to that age
when she becomes the target for such
tricks Us these, and if a lantern jawed
male imbecile comes to draw her away
| vow by all the gods of paternity that
Ill do what? Take him by the
hand, l suppose, and say "God bless,
You, my children!" That is what a
certain old gentleman said to me on a
similar occasion some years ago, and
that is what no end of fathers have said
and will continue to say, l suppose,
since the earth must be peopled and
sinners bred to the end of time. But,
none the less, there is always this plea
for tho father-in-law, and if so, why
not also for the mother-in-law-that,
though they may bargain and intrigue
to zee their daughters settled in the
world, yet in the act of settlement
there is involved o pang of loss which
must be forever remembered by an
honest Son-in-law.